H0PE AND FEAR: Modern Myths, Conspiracy Theories, and Pseudo-History. Ronald H. Fritze. “People will believe the strangest things,” Fritze, a professor of history and religion, begins this book. It is an understatement. He explores the fringe ideas and conspiracy theories people have turned to over the decades, from myths about the Knights Templar and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel to Nazis and the occult, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and UFOs. He demonstrates that when myths and pseudohistory dominate a society’s thinking, reality and truth fall by the wayside. The disruptions of globalization have led to people embracing conspiracy theories and, in his words, “freakish fantasies.” What will be the outcome? We don’t yet know. University of Chicago Press, 2022, 271 pp., $27.50.